Welcome Oscar!

Seems like a lot happens in a short amount of time lately. We’re still working on settling into our new home and city. I started working at my new job last week. I work for Child Serve, an organization that has programs for children with serious health conditions. The specific program that I work for is a day health program, which is similar to a day-care/after school program except it’s for kids who’s health keep them from participating in regular school or day care. I work in a classroom for middle/high school kids, help them work on their individual goals as well as activities, playing, feeding, just generally taking care of them. They’re such neat kids. I’m still very new and have a lot to learn, but they’re a lot of fun.

We’ve also decided on a church that we plan to attend and get involved in. What we like most is that it was very welcoming and has lots of opportunities to get involved and meet people. They have groups based on "life stages" like the church we attended in Neenah, so we’re thankful for an answer to prayers.

And, we adopted a dog! His name is Oscar, he’s around 2 years old, and he is a rescue dog. The shelter workers thought he was a cocker spaniel/poodle mix, but after looking at pictures and learning about different breeds, we think he seems more like a schnauzer/poodle (or a schnoodle!). However neither breed explains his adorable curly pig tail, so he really is a mix!

He is literally the cuddliest, friendliest dog I have ever met. The minute we sit down, there he is making himself right at home on our laps.  That’s his favorite place to nap as well (he’s napping in my lap as I type this).

(typical....)

(drying off after his bath)

(helping me make the bed)

His second favorite thing besides human contact is anything soft to lie on. I swear he can sense there is a blanket on the ground from a different room and makes a beeline for it. All together he’s just so sweet and has perfected the puppy dog eyes that melt us.

His adoration for human contact and attention definitely has its downside. He was found by animal control as a stray with another friend-dog. They brought them to a pound, then the shelter, then a foster home, then his friend was adopted and moved out, and then he moved in with us. Needless to say he’s had a lot of transitions in just a matter of weeks. He does not let us out of his sight. When we first brought him home he didn’t even want to eat or drink because that would involve not being able to see us for a few seconds. Now he doesn’t have a problem eating, and is slowly doing better when we take a shower or go to the bathroom, although he still follows me around the apartment everywhere I go. He still hates being left alone, and will cry and whine loudly when we leave him to go to work or the store. He also does not really play yet, and does not like treats (though he does like hot dogs). We’re told this should all continue to improve as he gets used to his new home and family, but it will take him awhile to really feel secure and believe that we won’t leave him. He's not one for mischief, no chewing or destroying or really barking at all. He does need work on his house training, but this hasn’t been much of a problem yet, we’ve been able to keep on top of it. He doesn't shed much at all, which is great. When they found him, his hair was so long and matted down that they had to cut him very short. Here's a picture the shelter took before they shaved him, he looks like a totally different dog!

So he’s got some challenges but he is so sweet and just loves to be near us, and it’s so fun to watch him get more and more comfortable and improve each day. We also happen to think he’s just the cutest and gives us hilarious looks and makes us laugh constantly. He’s great company, and we’re so happy to have this new family member of ours!